Explore Venice, Mumbai, Beijing and Nairobi on a globetrotting seek and find adventure.

This is the fifth hidden object game Selectsoft has released in just the past few months.  They are all very similar, and this particular entry even more so due to its theme.  Nevertheless I do think Secret Journeys: Cities of the World takes the slight edge as the best of an average lot.

Having reviewed all the prior entries, there’s little more I can say.  Most of the same pros and cons are present.  However there are two things (admittedly very small) this game has going for it that previous ones did not.

Secret Journeys has people included in the backgrounds of many of its scenes.  They are stationary (there’s still no animations) but they add a bit of life to the theme.  In City Mysteries for example, you’d need a real eagle eye to detect just one or two people obscured in the background.  Here they are out in the open making it feel more like you’re exploring a city, and less like staring at a photoshopped picture.

The other trump card is the inclusion of a more robust musical score.  Prior games suffered from limited tunes, or none at all.  Here the music here is varied and pleasant.  One track actually starts off reminiscent of a slower version of the Duck Tales Moon theme.  It’s an asset to the experience.

HD versions of this game can be acquired on mobile for just $1.99.  That is the correct price point for the content found here.  Why $4.99 is being asked is unknown.  Based on the empty Miiverse communities, few are biting at more than double the cost.  A casual game like this needs to be priced accordingly, even to attract hidden object enthusiasts.

If my information is accurate, this is the final hidden object game Selectsoft is releasing on the eShop.  If so, Secret Journeys: Cities of the World ends things on as high a note as can probably be expected from the average series.  Its changes are indeed very small, but they’re just enough for me to bump up my score ever so slightly.  Of course this applies to fans of the genre, ideally those who’ve played one of the prior entries.  I’m quite content to pass some time with these games, but should Selectsoft decide to resume porting these titles (of which there’s still many) at a later date, the price must be dropped if they’re to find eShop success comparable to that found with mobile.